It’s been so long since I last posted on this page. In that time there have been so many things that I could have written about. But the most pertinent is what is currently going on in Gaza. It’s with such sorrow that I feel I have to even write an article which has to remind people to draw on their humanity and to remember that the senseless murder of over 20,000 people is unacceptable. The level of dehumanisation that has been hoisted on Palestinian people collectively, has been nothing short of horrific. I’ve asked the question before but I pose it once again, is the reason that we are sitting back and quoting difficulties with condemning the massacre of children because they happen to be brown and, for the most part, Muslim?
We have entered into an extremely dangerous era in which the killing of 20,000+ people is a justifiable response and that in ‘defending’ oneself, genocide is acceptable and there is no limit to the brutality that one side can inflict on the other. I remind you in this instance that dropping leaflets on a population telling them to leave, and then bombing them senselessly, is still a war crime. And by the way, Gazans literally have nowhere to go. They are essentially trapped and have been under besiegement and blockade by their occupiers for 16 years. They are unable to leave their territory via Lebanon or Egypt. In addition to this a literal wall separates them from entering Israel and parts of historical Palestine which existed before 1948.
As I’ve watched the brutality that the IDF are inflicting on everyday Gazans, at times it’s felt like a dystopian nightmare come to life. It’s not enough that Western powers are enabling an unfolding genocide, they’re also forcing those who are being massacred to prove their humanity whilst they are dying in their tens of thousands. The scale of collective punishment that we are watching which is being enforced on Gazans is unlike anything we, in our lifetimes, have witnessed before. The amount of children who have died since October 7, is nothing short of astounding and yet I still hear people mumbling things like ‘it’s a complicated situation’. But the thing is, it’s not complicated at all. Either you are part of the population that do not condone the mass murder of children or you are not. If you are sitting there and still asking Palestinians and those who are calling for the end of the occupation, ‘but do you condemn Hamas’; then you need to be taking a serious inward look at yourself and questioning your own humanity.
The truth of all of this is that Palestinians have lived under occupation for 75 years. Since 1948 they have been pushed off their land, usually by force. They’ve been incarcerated, harassed, dehumanised and been called terrorists and monsters; all for wanting to return to their ancestral homelands. For those who say that of course Palestinians have the right to resist, but it shouldn’t be undertaken via violence; the non violent route has been taken for the better part of 75 years. It’s been done before. Like that time 40,000 Palestinians peacefully participated in the Great March of Return and were indiscriminately targeted and slaughtered by IDF snipers. During the protests it’s estimated that 150 Palestinians were killed, including medics and over 10,000 were injured. I must also remind you that simply flying the Palestinian flag is condemned and according to the Israeli administration it symbolises the incitement of violence. The entire thread of this is essentially, Palestinian existence is seen as an aggression by the Israeli administration.
I urge you as you read this not to be distracted by the never ending reference to Hamas. Palestinians are not all Hamas members. And by the way, it is widely acknowledged that the Israeli administration was involved in funding the establishment of Hamas in the 1980’s. Why, you ask?! Well, it’s the prevalent tool which is wielded by colonising forces in their divide and conquer methodology. At the time the Palestinian resistance was mostly united under a secular banner which saw the evolution of the PLO, Fatah and the Palestinian Authority. In order to splinter the Palestinian liberation movement, as identified by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Israel funded and enabled the creation of Hamas.
I also need not remind you that the occupation, the repression and widespread discrimination of the Palestinian people has occurred well before October 7th 2023. Israel has been in violation of international humanitarian law virtually since the time it was established in 1948. Its continued use of building illegal settlements on Palestinian land is one of the many reasons why the two state solution has failed. Israel has also continued to illegally arrest and detain children, as young as 9 or 10 in prisons and try them, again illegally, in military courts. The Palestinian children who have been detained have widely reported being assaulted, threatened and deprived of their basic human rights whilst in Israeli custody.
I could go on and on identifying the never ending abuses that have been inflicted on the Palestinian people since the 1948 Nakba. But today I just want to say to those of you who have stayed silent on the issue or are afraid to wade into what has been sold to you as a ‘complicated issue’; be brave. Do not be afraid to condemn the grievous war crimes that are being committed against the Palestinian people. The killing of over 20,000 civilians is never justifiable, no matter the ‘provocation’.
To Palestinians worldwide; we see you, we hear you and we will continue to raise our voices alongside yours and do what we can to serve in allyship towards your liberation. I write this, To Gaza, with Love.
*Feature Artwork courtesy of: sard.visuals
I blog for Change. 